Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising - the trip report! THIS SECTION COMPLETED 4/12 - Page 20 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Glad I finally got caught up on your TR! The flight over seemed good with a nice dinner on board! As you said the international airlines seem to do it better. Although, Continental was quite good before they merged with United as I took them on a few Europe trips with some great meals! My France trip in 2013 was AF and the food being quite good!
A nice start to your trip and loved your photos while in transit and especially those of the KSC! I have yet to visit there and must do it soon!
Your accommodations at THV look quite nice, but you certainly need a car as everything within this and SSR is so far away. You probably got some nice views of the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course, which the THV overlooks. Not sure if all of them do, but when I've played there it's the last few holes in which I see the THV as well as much of SS, OKW, POR and POFQ. Lot of resorts on this course!
Sorry, your meal wasn't that great at the Turf Club. Mark's calamari looked like it came out of a bag and was just heated up with all the crumbs! Never ate here and never had much interest from the reviews here. Never ate at Olivia's (your breakfast tomorrow at OKW) before but want to as I've heard about so many positive experiences there. Convenient, as just a short drive on the same road!
My resort meals have been mainly at Deluxe resorts for dinner and mods basically if I was staying there for breakfast and lunch, if I was staying there. I definitely want to try Olivia's on my next trip for dinner or lunch!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 03-15-2015 at 09:29 PM..
So sorry your meal at the Turf Club was not the best. I had thought about trying the Turf Club for our trip but for some reason the menu was not that appealing and I think I read a couple of reviews that made me think twice about it and I believe those were negatives on service that I saw. It is a shame that it is not a better table service option there. Your next day does not sound much better.
Glad I finally got caught up on your TR! The flight over seemed good with a nice dinner on board! As you said the international airlines seem to do it better. Although, Continental was quite good before they merged with United as I took them on a few Europe trips with some great meals! My France trip in 2013 was AF and the food being quite good!
A nice start to your trip and loved your photos while in transit and especially those of the KSC! I have yet to visit there and must do it soon!
Oh you must - and when you see our photos from our day at Kennedy Space Center, I'm sure those will encourage you to visit it.
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Your accommodations at THV look quite nice, but you certainly need a car as everything within this and SSR is so far away. You probably got some nice views of the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course, which the THV overlooks. Not sure if all of them do, but when I've played there it's the last few holes in which I see the THV as well as much of SS, OKW, POR and POFQ. Lot of resorts on this course!
Unfortunately not - our Treehouse Villa had one of the main roads passing by it both in front and behind, so that's what our view was.
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Sorry, your meal wasn't that great at the Turf Club. Mark's calamari looked like it came out of a bag and was just heated up with all the crumbs!
That's a pretty good description of what he got.
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Never ate here and never had much interest from the reviews here. Never ate at Olivia's (your breakfast tomorrow at OKW) before but want to as I've heard about so many positive experiences there. Convenient, as just a short drive on the same road!
Our breakfast at Olivia's was about a week or so later - not the next morning, so I'm afraid you'll have quite a wait to read about that.
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So sorry your meal at the Turf Club was not the best. I had thought about trying the Turf Club for our trip but for some reason the menu was not that appealing and I think I read a couple of reviews that made me think twice about it and I believe those were negatives on service that I saw. It is a shame that it is not a better table service option there. Your next day does not sound much better.
It wasn't the greatest start, but it does get better.
Saturday 21 February – part one: these are the worst of any DVC property…
I first woke up at 1:20am, when Mark got up to use the bathroom, then I woke up about an hour later, when I needed to. I went back to sleep again, but then got woken up by one of the race day buses outside at around 3:10am. I lay in bed for a little longer, but my stomach was telling me it wasn’t feeling 100% and I really needed to get up and go and deal with that. I left Mark sleeping, but about 15 minutes later, he came out to join me as well. I guess I had had seven hours sleep, even if we were up at 3:30am.
It was a bit surreal to sit there and hear the buses outside, thinking to ourselves, this is about the first and only time we’ve been up at such an early hour, and loads of other people are up as well.
I caught up on the trip report and photo editing for a while, then headed to enjoy the Jacuzzi bath. Now those of you who know me will know I love these, and they’re a real indulgence for me. Well, I was about to be very sorely disappointed. I got in, and turned on the jets, and there were only about five down both sides of the bath. Now I’m sorry, but that’s a bit stupid. I want them for my back and my feet. These really are the worst Jacuzzi bath of any DVC property we’ve stayed in at Disney World.
All in all, while I’m really glad we’ve now stayed at the Treehouse Villas, and I liked them, I didn’t love them. They were Ok, and I don’t think we’ll be rushing back. It’s the silly little things, like how the floor thuds when anyone walks on it, I guess due to the design of the building, but you imagine having kids in here and it will get really noisy. I’m also judging these against some of the newer DVC properties, and to me, these just don’t come up to scratch with those, which is a shame. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice, but I just didn’t love them like I expected to…
We left just before 6:00am and headed over to the Carriage House, as I wasn’t sure whether we had to check out or not. The woman told me that as I had received our receipt by email, then we didn’t have to, but then again, if you don’t check out, how do they know that you’ve actually gone?
When we got there, the place was deserted, so I made the best of it, and got lots of photos. It was just lovely and peaceful.
We headed back to the car and made our way through the back road (past Fort Wilderness for those who know what I’m talking about ) to the Contemporary. We pulled up and, at first, there was no-one around, so I headed inside to check in, and there was actually a line surprising, given that it was now 6:25am. By the time I got seen, Mark had found someone to help with the luggage. Once again, we had a few issues over the MagicBands, as all the Cast Members seem to think that you will already have them. Not if you’re from abroad, you don’t!
With new MagicBands in hand, we both got a chocolate chip cookie from the coffee shop in the lobby, as it was the only place we had seen open so far. Annoyingly, you couldn’t use snack credits here, but I’m sure we’ll find plenty of ways to use those up.
We went over to the Bay Lake Tower parking area and found a space and then walked over to the Magic Kingdom, munching our breakfast on the way. There was a lovely sunrise, although in fairness, the main part of it was hidden behind Bay Lake Tower.
Enjoying every bit of your TR. As usual great photos and details. Your review of the Bloc hotel was terrific. I think it is a great concept for an overnight at the airport. I have always had a fascination with airports, and having worked at several, I would be happy saying there.
Great flight. I am always tickled when the plane is not crowded. The food and beverage service was impressive right from the get go.
I was looking forward to your review of Saratoga Springs Resort. The THV's seemed drab and outdated to me. I haven't a clue what it costs to be a dvc member, but I am sure that SSR facilities aren't quite the same drawer that others are. Saratoga Springs is one of our favorite summer hangouts, but the real city also has problems with parking and traffic, so I guess Disney got that right.
So sorry, but I had to chuckle at Mark's buffalo dip being spicy. Donna nailed the "wing" explanation. They are spicy, but once you've lived in the Buffalo area (Lewiston) you understand the addiction.
I look forward to reading about the rest of your trip.
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Sorry you guys did not sleep well. Wow! That was an early checkout!! It sounds as though you are being gracious but were a bit disappointed in the Tree House Villas. . I do your pictures of the lobby at the resort! That is one resort we have never been to. I am once again intrigued by your next teaser!
Too bad your first night wasn't as nice as you'd hoped, but you're getting a nice, early start to the day! I'm usually up and making coffee by 4 or 4:30, and sometimes earlier, even at WDW, so I'm always wishing there were places for more than coffee a lot earlier!
This sounds like she may have had the SunPass added to her contract. We bought it several trips ago but have not had to use it recently. It is easy to avoid the toll roads around the Orlando/Disney area.
No, we've been offered the Sunpass option before and we always turn it down, because the only time we ever use Toll Roads (unless we get horribly, accidentally lost, which has happened before!) is on the way from and back to the Airport, and then we always pay cash.
This was a separate hard sell from the Dollar guy – he said, "all roads around Florida are now cashless, look at the map" then went off to get some printed off paperwork. I studied the laminated map on the desk, and saw all the cashless tolls are in Miami and further down South, so stuck to my guns and said we didn't need it.
This may very well change in the future, I don't know, but as of November 2014 this was the case.
Anyway, Cheryl, back to you - sorry you had such a bum deal at the Turf Club, we have eaten there a couple of times and had really amazing food, but to be fair we have never tried the starters, only the entrees.
On our first night in the USA we usually do book an ADR, but for Trail's End - a buffet might be a better bet for you than a set meal, as you can just pick at whatever you really fancy then. We find this works really well for us as we are usually SO tired that we have no idea what we want to eat until the food is actually staring back at us! Then we are always surprised by how revived we feel after eating, if only for just long enough to sustain us through Wishes on the beach at Fort Wilderness Campground!
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Just getting caught up. Great pictures of the Treehouse villas. Sorry you didn't enjoy your dinner and that you had such an early start to the day. Lovely pictures of the sunrise.
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The flight over seemed good with a nice dinner on board! 
My France trip in 2013 was AF and the food being quite good! 
Never ate here and never had much interest from the reviews here. Never ate at Olivia's (your breakfast tomorrow at OKW) before but want to as I've heard about so many positive experiences there. 
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I want them for my back and my feet. These really are the worst Jacuzzi bath of any DVC property we’ve stayed in at Disney World. 
we didn’t have to, but then again, if you don’t check out, how do they know that you’ve actually gone? 
) to the Contemporary. We pulled up and, at first, there was no-one around, so I headed inside to check in, and there was actually a line 
surprising, given that it was now 6:25am. By the time I got seen, Mark had found someone to help with the luggage. Once again, we had a few issues over the MagicBands, as all the Cast Members seem to think that you will already have them. Not if you’re from abroad, you don’t! 
Us 
your pictures of the lobby at the resort! 
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